Day 28, March 30, 2023, Thursday. Kanab, UT (83 miles)

We departed St. George, elevation 2,700 feet, on a partly cloudy morning and headed east for about an hour and a half drive to Kanab, elevation 5,000.  About 45 minutes into the trip I found myself driving in a snowstorm. It was the first time I had ever driven in snow.  The snow/ice began to stick to the windshield everywhere that the windshield wipers did not touch. Fortunately, the snow did not accumulate on the road. After a while the snow stopped.  Then the accumulation on the windshield began to break apart.  The ice that formed above the wipers’ reach then began to quickly slide down blocking my view momentarily. We arrived in Kanab and checked into J&J RV Park (FHU).  It was cold! Too cold for our two rooftop heat pumps to function. I hooked up the electric only as temps expected in the 20's meant I wanted to keep my water equipment in the coach. Fortunately we have propane heat or we would be looking for a hotel. We went to the town visitor center and got lots of info for the area which has many national and state parks/monuments. And so we began our planning for the area.

Day 29, March 31, 2023, Friday. Kanab, UT 

Low temp last night was 23 but the extra blankets kept us warm. We took the coach to fill up our propane as we do not want to run out in this environment.  Today we had reservations for a tour of Antelope Lower Canyon which was a 90 minute drive away. Our tour group of 10 with our guide, Ben B., spent about 70 minutes in the canyon which is about a half mile. One interesting thing about this canyon is it is not visible from ground level.  The entrance is by ladder down a hole in the ground.  The exit is shimming through a narrow slot. The canyon is gorgeous and we are very happy we went. Lots of photo opportunities and everyone cooperates to take photos without others in them. Whether this is better than Antelope Upper Canyon, we will find out Monday. On the drive back to Kanab, we stopped at the Toadstools for a hike, an easy 2 mile round trip. Some fantastic rock formations which are part of the Grand Escalante Staircase. A toadstool is a boulder perched on a rock of smaller diameter.  On our return to the coach we got the heatpumps working. We will see how long that lasts with freezing temps expected again tonight.

 Day 27, March 29, 2023, Tuesday. St. George, UT

This morning we moved into a FHU site with WiFi. Also got a haircut at The Tall Barber. Asked barber not to give me a crewcut but it came awfully close. Oh well, maybe I won’t need another haircut until we get home.  In the afternoon we went back to the Snow Canyon State Park. We wanted to hike the 1.5 mile cinder cone trail which is rated difficult with a steep slope and 500 foot elevation gain. We made it about two-thirds of the way but the trail was only about 18 inches wide with steep drop offs and the wind became too strong to maintain a good balance so we turned around. We then hiked the Petrified Dunes trail, a moderate 1.2 miles. This hike was great fun- walking on sand dunes without the soft sand struggle but easy smooth rock.  We reach heights which offered great views of the canyon.  I’m not sure how sand becomes petrified instead of blowing away, especially with the strong winds we encountered. We had thought for our next stop we would go to the Great Basin National Park about 200 miles north but the low temp was 11 and the feels like is minus 6 so we’ll pass on heading further north at this time.   This Florida boy just doesn’t understand March/April winter outside of his home state. 

 Day 17, March 19, 2023, Sunday.  Shoshone Village, NV (301 miles)

We departed San Diego and stopped at EZ PZ Propane to fill up as we are going to be off the grid for a few days and will need propane heat at night. Also filled up on diesel.  We checked into Shoshone RV Park (FHU, 30 amp) and barely fit into our site between the trees.  Shoshone Village has a population of 31 so it should be a quite a quiet night. Across from the campground were some trails and we hiked the red trail.  We came across 3 coyotes who seem to pose for a photo so I obliged. The campground also has a hot spring oasis which we hiked around.

Day 18, March 20, 2023, Monday.  Death Valley National Park, CA (57 miles)

We arrived at the Furnace Creek Sunset Campground which has 270 sites without facilities on gravel at minus 190 foot elevation. We chose a site and paid our $7/night for 2 nights. After a stop at the Visitor Center we drove north to hike the Mosaic Canyon, a 4 mile out and back with a 1,200 foot elevation gain. The hike was beautiful with some narrows and unique color patterns.  There was some rock climbing required and some sliding on one’s butt on the return trip. Next was the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes which was hiking among the dunes. On the way back to the campground, we stopped at the ruins of the Harmony Borax Works which operated in the 1880's. Rosemary’s birthday in the coach was shrimp rogan josh followed by homemade birthday brownies - blond with dark chocolate chips, walnuts and coconuts by Rosemary and dark chocolate brownies by Aaron. 

Day 19, March 21, 2023, Tuesday. Death Valley National Park

After a very windy, rainy night we set off for Badwater Basin which is the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level and a landscape of vast salt flats. One can walk for miles on the salt flats if desired and we walked for a while.  When we turned around to head back we noticed a rectangular object high on the mountain that is adjacent to the trailhead. I zoomed my camera but still could not make it out but I did make a guess as to what it was. As we approached the trailhead my guess was confirmed, a sign stating “sea level.”  Next we hiked the Natural Bridge Trail, a one mile out and back hike with a 180 foot gain. At the trail end was a beautiful canyon and a natural bridge formation. Our next stop was the Devil’s Golf Course.  No it is not a golf course but got its name because to hit a seven iron out of the extensive rough would be hellish.  Here crystalized minerals reacting with groundwater have left jagged piles of rock and salt up to 2 feet high.  You can walk on the piles, and we did, but one must be careful for a fall would lead to serious wounds. Still raining we went back to the coach for lunch.  The average rainfall in the park is a mere 2 inches. Somehow it seemed to all fall on this day. However, after lunch the rain stopped and the sun shown bright but the wind chill temps never got out of the 50's.  Next stop was the Artists Drive, a nine mile one way drive through scenic multi-hued mountains. Included was a stop and hike at the Artists Palette, about 0.5 miles, where the rocks appeared to be in pastel colors. Next was a hike of the Golden Canyon, a 3 mile out and back with an elevation gain of 535 feet. This hike was among colorful canyons carved through golden badlands. Towards the end required much rock climbing among beautiful red cliffs known as the Red Cathedral. 

Day 20, March 22, 2023, Wednesday. Las Vegas, NV (140 miles)

After a wonderful time at Death Valley NP, we made one last stop as we departed, Dante’s View.  We drove the car up the peak some 13 miles with the last 1/4 mile a 15 degree incline to an elevation of 5,475 feet.  The view above Death Valley was outstanding. However, a bit of poor planning on our part as we each had only one jacket on and it was freezing! We had a fantastic time at Death Valley which would be better named “Awesome Valley.”  Its unfortunate name was due to one death in the 1800's from a party of dozens. I rate it a must see but not in the summer time since it also holds the record high temperature of 134 degrees. We timed our park visit just right!  We arrived in Las Vegas and checked into the Main Street Station RV Resort (FHU) in downtown Las Vegas.  Dinner at the Arawana Thai restaurant where we had a special treat meeting our son Daniel, wife Rebecca and our 3 grandchildren who were just concluding their week vacation to Zion, Bryce and Antelope  Canyon and flying out of Las Vegas the next morning. Also joined by Rebecca’s brother and aunt we had a party of 10. Great visit and the food was good too.

Day 21, March 23, 2023, Thursday. Valley of Fire State Park, NV (61 miles)

We departed Las Vegas and headed to the Valley of Fire State Park.  The scenery was incredibly beautiful, red sandstone formations everywhere.  When the sun hits them they seem to glow and thus the name of the park. We paid our daily admission and drove to the campground which was first come first served but there were no spaces available. So we drove 5 miles east to the “Poverty Flats” camping.  This is free dispersed camping on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation land and park were you want on the mostly level rocks. We actually had a nice view of mountains from our spot. After lunch we went back to the park and hiked the White Domes loop, a 1.1 mile hike through a slot canyon.   This trail is closed from June to October due to extreme heat.  Next we hiked the Rainbow Vista trail, 1.0 mile out and back to a stunning canyon.  We took lots of photos but unfortunately they do not really capture the spectacular surroundings.

Day 22, March 24, 2023, Friday. Valley of Fire State Park, NV 

On our second day at Valley of Fire Park we visited Arch Rock, Atlatl Petroglyphs (which we timed perfectly as we were the only ones on the staircase at that moment), the Beehives, the Seven Sisters, the Mouse Tank trail (0.75 miles out and back to a natural water tank), Fire Canyon/Silica Dome and the Fire Wave/Seven Wonders trail which is a 1.8 mile loop with slot canyons and many different colors of rock.  Most of us agreed that this trail was the prettiest we have been on this trip.  It was a sunny day but cool in the low 60's. I had a camera failure so all photos posted were taken by Rosemary.

Day 23, March 25, 2023, Saturday. Las Vegas, NV (69 miles)

On our third day at the Valley of Fire park we visited the Elephant Rock and did a 1.5 mile loop trail there, the Historic Cabins which were built in the 1930's by the CCC, more petroglyphs and the Balancing Rock.  We also saw a couple ground squirrels.  Having done everything at the park by lunchtime, we decided to head back to Las Vegas a day early and checked into the Main Street Station RV Park again. Dinner at the Orchid Gardens which has dim sum all day and we had 10 different dim sum items.  The last was red bean sesame balls which were unanimously decided as the best we have ever had.  The evening was spent walking the Las Vegas Blvd. strip.  The strip and casinos were very crowded everywhere.  The casinos are nothing like my first visit to Vegas in 1977. Everything is electronic, from slot machines to roulette. I even saw a craps game where there were 2 large dice in a clear container that when the button was pushed the dice where thrown up into the container to determine the “roll of the dice.”  How people find this fun escapes me. My camera failure for the last 2 days was discovered tonight which wiped out all my photos for 2 days.  Let’s just say (stupid) operator error.

Day 24, March 26, 2023, Sunday. Las Vegas, NV 

We had a relaxing morning because we had 12:40 tickets to Meow Wolf, a multimedia art installation with a narrative story running throughout. Clearly this was something Aaron had selected for us as we would not have known anything about it. We arrived on time at Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart in Area 15.  Described as an interdimensional grocery store filled with mind-bending products, alien portraits and trippy dystopian landscapes.  We spent a few hours there trying to unravel the mystery.  Fortunately we had Aaron with us to explain the story!  Unsatisfactorily, there was no ending to the story.  I had no prior knowledge of Meow Wolf and I am still not sure what it is but I did find it somewhat amusing.  Afterward we had bubble teas at 7 Leaves Café and dinner at Yen Viet Kitchen which was very good. Alas, we dropped Aaron off at the airport at 8:00 for his flight back to San Diego.

Day 25, March 27, 2023, Monday. St. George, UT (117 miles)

A relaxing morning with grocery shopping before hitting the road. We lost an hour going back into the Mountain time zone arriving in St. George at the Temple View RV Resort (30 amp, W in temp spot).  In the evening we drove around St. George which is bordered by tall red cliffs on the east. 

Day 26, March 28, 2023, Tuesday. St. George, UT 

We finally found WiFi in the RV Park Clubhouse. This allowed Rosemary to take her dulcimer class and me to upload photos on the blog. The afternoon was spent at the Snow Canyon State Park.  We began with Jenny’s Canyon, an easy half mile hike to a slot canyon/cave. Next we hiked to the Whiterocks Trail/ Whiterocks Amphitheater, a moderate 4 miles among red, white and black colored rocks.  The top of the amphitheater offered some spectacular views.  Next we hiked the Lava Flow Trail, a moderate 2.5 miles through a jumbled lava field with several lava tubes to explore.  One such lava tube was very large and we needed flashlights and required much precarious rock climbing. We went in a little way but not a far as many others in the tube. The end of the trail offered a lookout with more spectacular views. Another outstanding park and hiking.